Dance Party Review | Sohan Seenulal’s Creative Atom Bomb Has the Potential to End Review Bombing

Sometimes, when I watch movies that can’t even be called trash, I am amused by how another human being was convinced to invest money in such a creation. I mean, if someone had secretly recorded the director convincing the producers of the movie that this had the potential to earn money and praise from the audience, that would actually work as source material for Hansal Mehta to create Scam 2023. Dance Party, directed by Sohan Seenulal, is one atrociously bad film that sort of makes you feel that they just looted the ticket money from you.

The movie basically revolves around Anikuttan, a lower-middle-class guy who earns a living by paving tiles. He is a passionate dancer who is in love with another dancer named Anitha. While Anikuttan was planning to make things work with Anitha, he got involved in a situation where he was accused of having a relationship with the mayor’s daughter. The reality behind that allegation and how Anikuttan eventually clears his name is what we see in Dance Party.

I kind of feel proud about the fact that I was able to figure out the story of this movie and put it in a small paragraph. I don’t think even Mr. Sohan Seenulal will be able to comprehend the story of this movie. A large part of the first half of this film is utter crap. There is a bizarre song sequence in this movie, when our hero Anikuttan, is taken by the police for drunken driving. Anikuttan is sitting comfortably inside the station, and he calls his girlfriend from the station and asks her to sing a song for him because he is bored. And instead of giving that dumbass an earful, the girl sang an entire song. Dance Party is actually a compilation of such scenes, which makes no creative sense. If the people who make Malayalam daily soaps see this movie, they might actually consider sending their creations for Emmy next time.

Vishnu Unnikrishnan plays the role of Anikuttan, pretty much the same way he pulled off Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan. Sreenath Bhasi is there in a pointless role, and the only logical thing that would justify his decision to opt for this movie would be that no one else hired him for any other work. Shine Tom Chacko has graciously given a few dates to make the poster of the movie star-studded. Prayaga Martin unleashes her inner Shine Tom Chacko in this literally colorful character. Jude Anthany Joseph, Saju Navodaya, Fukru, etc., make sure that the headache you felt transformed into a migraine by the time the movie ends. Lenaa, Shradha Gokul, and a few more names are there in the star cast of the movie.

The movie opens with a lengthy drone shot that ends on a stage where a dance performance happens, and eventually, we are shown that it is all a dream sequence. I think that was a subtle directorial brilliance from Sohan Seenulal, where he clearly shows you that you are about to witness something that was created with no planning. Almost every scene felt like they wrote it on the set, looking at the availability of the actors. The technical aspects of the movie are pretty lousy, and I think even those people knew that they shouldn’t waste their energy on a garbage creation like this.

Dance Party is the most lethal weapon used against reviewers by the Malayalam cinema industry after those Review Bombing debates happened after Rahel Makan Kora. Released by Central Pictures, this movie has got a fairly good amount of screens on a weekend where there were roughly eight new releases from all languages. If the people in the industry don’t do anything about QC, they are just digging their own graves by making people watch movies like Dance Party, which can scar people’s movie-going experience for life.